Today: Vegan roasted sweet potato salad and secret Pinterest boards.

Some things you want to keep secret. Like, say… surprise party plans. Or the fact that you have owned a home for nearly four years and still don’t know how to clean an oven. Other things, like a fail-proof recipe for a delicious roasted sweet potato salad, are too good to be kept under wraps.

Vegan roasted sweet potato salad (gluten free)

Serves: 10 – 12 people

Ingredients:

6 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 stalks of celery, finely chopped across the rib

2 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries, raisins or currants

1/2 cup red onion, diced

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat your (recently cleaned?) oven to 350 degrees F.

Toss sweet potatoes with a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkle each of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper on a rimmed baking sheet.

Meanwhile, mix celery, cranberries (or your choice of dried fruit – I’ve used both raisins and currants), and red onion in a large serving bowl.

Once sweet potatoes are sufficiently cooked, mix them with other ingredients and top with green onions.

Notes: This dish can be served warm or cold, and keeps well for up to three days in an air tight container, refrigerated (obvi). Feel free to play around with other spices and seasonings. I personally live to season everything with Old Bay, but am not certain everyone shares my love for the OB. Got leftover sweet potatoes? Why not whip up Alex’s spicy sweet potato lentil burgers?

While putting together the menu for Andrea’s shower, I found a few great ideas on the time vortex that is Pinterest, but didn’t want my sister to know what I was planning. Ever the schemer, I created a secret board for keeping my ideas organized (and secret). One secret board turned into two, two into three… and well, you get the picture.

How to create secret Pinterest boards

Secret Pinterest boards come in handy when planning holiday gifts, gathering ideas for blog posts, or pinning chores that — as a 31 year old — you should know how to do without the guidance of the Internet. They are only visible to you (unless you invite friends to collaborate — perfect for fellow bridesmaids and other co-conspirators), and appear at the bottom of your screen of boards.

To add your own secret board, simply click on “create a board,” as you normally would.

… and be sure to select “secret” before saving changes.

Two easy steps and you’re officially a secret (…Pinterest board) agent. All I ask is that you don’t keep any tasty recipes to yourself.

Really good idea on keeping the “chores you don’t know how to do yet” secret. I’m definitely going to do that, because I’m a horrifying housekeeper, but I don’t really want everyone to see that I totes need a pictoral guide on “how to iron a shrit without buring a hole in it”.

My older sister started a secret pinterest board to plan my wedding….and I’m not even engaged yet. Let’s just say she’s really antsy for that to happen! She eventually shared her secret board with me and my other sister. It’s funny, because it’s mostly just blue bridesmaid dresses and blue flowers (my favorite color). But I’ve now added a few secret ideas myself!